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For the second time in as many days, a top Israeli security expert has warned that Israel is prepared to strike Iran's nuclear installations, if Tehran continues its drive to acquire the bomb. This time, Kadima Knesset Member Isaac Ben-Israel, an IDF Maj. Gen.(res.) told the German magazine Der Spiegel that Israel was now prepared to carry out such an operation today. In Washington, a Pentagon official has warned that the U.S. is concerned that Israel might launch such an operation by the end of the year and before a new president enters the White House.

Has Israel carried out a dress rehearsal for a massive air strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? In Jerusalem, officials refuse to comment on the New York Times report that more than 100 Israeli F-15s and F-16s carried out an air exercise over the Mediterranean Sea. According to Pentagon sources the exercise simulated an attack on Iran. IsraCast says the Israel Air Force has sent a message loud and clear in different directions.

Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz started a firestorm at home and abroad when he declared that Israel would attack Iran if it continued its nuclear weapons program. Mofaz contravened standing Israeli policy that a nuclear Iran should be viewed primarily as a threat to the entire international community. Although Mofaz was speaking out of turn and without cabinet approval, IsraCast says the affair focuses attention on the fact that the international sanctions campaign against Iran is being side-stepped not only by Russia and China but also by the European Union.

What is the implication of President Bush's Knesset statements on Iran? 'Permitting the world's greatest sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon!', 'America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions'. IsraCast presents an assessment of President Bush's proclamations on Iran's nuclear weapons program against the backdrop of the latest Israeli intelligence.

Joseph Trumpeldor was an early Zionist activist, notable for helping organize the Zion Mule Corps and bringing Jewish immigrants to Palestine. Trumpeldor was fatally wounded while defending the settlement Tel-Hai against Arab attacks and was killed together with seven other defenders.

IDF Intelligence Chief Maj. Gen Amos Yadlin has said that Iran may acquire a nuclear weapons option by 2010. In a closed door briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the intelligence chief reported that the Iranians had run into some 'technological problems' in uranium enrichment while, with the help of North Korea, they are developing new missiles with a range of up to 3,500 kilometers. Canadian MP Irwin Cotler, a former Canadian Justice Minister and McGill Law professor, told IsraCast that Iranian President Ahmadinejad's threats 'to wipe Israel off the map' are in flagrant violation of the U.N. charter and something should be done about it.

Israel and most Arab states in the Middle East are baffled and bewildered by the latest U.S, intelligence estimate that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons drive in 2003. In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is set to convene the defense and foreign affairs establishment to reassess what could be a change for the worse in Israel's security situation. Threatened with destruction by Iranian President Ahmadinejad, the Jewish state has been hoping that the international campaign of sanctions might dissuade Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment program which is the very heart of a nuclear weapon. While Israeli leaders have not directly criticized the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, Israeli analysts charge that its assessment of Iran is flawed by a built - in contradiction. The Israeli assessment is that Iran, if not stopped, could acquire the bomb in 2009.

Israel is ringing alarm bells after President Ahamadinejad declared that Iran is now operating 3,000 centrifuges - experts say they could produce enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb annually. IsraCast says Israel has now taken of the gloves in a last ditch effort to generate international sanctions that could still deter Tehran from getting the bomb. Jerusalem now views Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei as the main obstacle.

Baron Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild was a Philanthropist and supporter of Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisrael. For his Jewish philanthropy Baron Edmond became known as 'HaNadiv HaYadu'a', 'The Known Benefactor'.

More and more Iranians now fear that President Ahmadinejad's nuclear weapons is steering their country toward a global confrontation fraught with danger. This is the assessment of Menashe Amir, a leading Israeli expert on Iran, who monitors Iranian affairs on a daily basis. IsraCast presents analyst Amir's five point plan for stopping Ahmadinejad which he outlined in a public lecture:

The looming Iranian nuclear threat has been placed front row center on the international agenda - U.S. President George Bush has warned an Iranian bomb could spark World War III while his Russian counter- part chooses to say there is no evidence that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons. China, annoyed by Bush over his meeting with the Dalai Lama, shows no sign that it will support the American appeal for tougher sanctions. Meanwhile Israeli leaders, who have declared they cannot acquiesce in Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons, have been presenting their concerns in Moscow and Washington. Opinion poll indicates most Israelis favor using military force to prevent nuclear weapons falling into hands of President Ahmadinejad who threatens wipe Jewish state off the map.

The Emet Prize is awarded to Prof. Michael Confino for his contribution to the research of Russian history, which has earned him renown as an eminent historians worldwide, and for his decisive contribution to both empirical research and to a broad, in-depth and original concept of historical development and the manner in which historians relate to it.

'Iranian President's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speeches in New York were a pack of lies designed to deceive the West' - that's the assessment of Arab Affairs expert Menashe Amir. In an interview with IsraCast, Amir said Ahmadinejad exploited the Shiite Islamic tradition of telling lies in order to mislead the enemy and cover your true intentions. It is known as 'taukia' and Ahmadinejad exploits it to create the false impression that Iran already has acquired the technology for enriching uranium for producing nuclear weapons.

Israel is refusing to comment on the Washington Post report that Israeli jets bombed a Syrian nuclear facility supplied by North Korea on September 6th. IDF intelligence chief Gen. Amos Yadlin has just briefed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee but made no reference to the alleged air strike. At the start of the closed door session, committee chairman Zachi Hanegbi said Gen.Yadlin that he was under no obligation to discuss the affair. Knesset Member Hanegbi later told IsraCast that Israel's refusal to comment on the alleged attack is making it easier for Syria to play down the matter and there were 'encouraging signs' that tension was subsiding.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly discussed an Israeli withdrawal on the West Bank at their latest meeting in Jerusalem. According to Israel Radio, the two leaders also considered a land swap involving West Bank settlements in return for Israeli territory in the Negev desert as well as a partition of Jerusalem. The right- wing Likud party has charged that Olmert has no mandate to negotiate such issues. Likud MK Yuval Steinitz told IsraCast that an Israeli pullback to the former lines of 1967 would lead to a Holocaust for the Jewish state.

About to enter the home-stretch of his second and final term, U.S. President George Bush is making a final attempt to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement after the Hamas coup in Gaza. The IsraCast analysis is that Bush is exploiting the split between Hamas and Fatah to unify West Bank Palestinians and moderate Arab states on an accelerated two-state solution. Bush told the Palestinians they must renounce Hamas and terrorism and recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Israelis had to settle the Negev and Galilee and not the West Bank.

The first official duty of President Shimon Peres was to address a memorial ceremony for Zeev Jabotinsky, the revered founder of Betar and Revisionist movement - the forerunner of the Likud party. At the service on Jerusalem's Mount Herzl, President Peres spoke of how even David Ben-Gurion had exaggerated the rift between the Revisionists on the Right and Mapai on the Left when it came to the Greater Land of Israel. Peres said that Jabotinsky advocated holding both banks of the Jordan River while Ben-Gurion was in favor of dividing the land. Peres added that both leaders had agreed on the need to ensure a Jewish majority - an issue that is topical to this day.

In Britain, the University and College Union (UCU) vote to promote a boycott of Israeli academic institutions has aroused a furious Israeli reaction. The UCU boycott was said to be in protest to Israel's actions in the conflict with the Palestinians. Even super-dove Yossi Beilin of the left wing Labor party called on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to condemn the UCU decision. Otherwise Beilin said the outgoing leader's term would be stained by such an ignominy. The UCU resolution, approved by 158 to 99, is only a recommendation until approved by a majority of the body's 120,000 members. IsraCast evaluates the UCU motion and other manifestations of what appear to be a double standard of morality applied only to the Jewish state.

As anticipated by IsraCast, the bloody Palestinian infighting between Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip has spilled over into Israel. The Palestinians have launched over 30 Qassam rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot apparently in an attempt to deflect the focus from their internal feud that killed at least 15 Palestinians on Tuesday, May 15th. The rockets are terrorizing the children, women and men. In the initial bombardment, one woman was seriously injured and dozens more were lightly hurt and suffered from shock. While the Israeli government considers what to do, Jewish-Russian philanthropist Arkadi Gaydamak has stepped in with his own private solution.